Screen Name

The email address/password you submitted is wrong or could not be found. Please try again. If you are not a member of the FIFA.com Club, please register first.

The email address/password you submitted is wrong or could not be found. Please try again. If you are not a member of the FIFA.com Club, please register first.

This Facebook account is already present

Your Club account has been locked due to a breach of our Terms of Service. Please set up a new account in line with the Club rules. Review the Club Rules. Alternatively, you can email us by completing our contact form.

Please enter a valid email address

The email address/password you submitted is wrong or could not be found. Please try again. If you are not a member of the FIFA.com Club, please register first.

Socceroos savour perfect start

The Socceroos did the damage in the first half, steaming to a
3-0 lead with the Qataris seemingly incapable of stemming a
constant flow of attacks.

Giant Karlsruhe striker Joshua Kennedy opened the scoring on 11
minutes and Everton midfielder Tim Cahill and Palermo attacker Mark
Bresciano gave the Australians a comfortable buffer before they
coasted through the second half.

"We played a fantastic first half. We did really well, we
created chances, we scored great goals and we didn't give them
a chance to play football," Verbeek said afterwards.

"It was exactly what the plans were before the game and I
am very proud of what they did, especially in the first half,
because the quality was very high and they began to get tired in
the second half, which we expected they would."

Roared on by 51,000 home fans, Australia could have won by more
with only goalkeeper Mohammed Saqr preventing further damage in the
first match of a tough section also containing Iraq and China.

The result vindicated Dutchman Verbeek's decision to focus
on overseas-based players, with defender Craig Moore and John
Aloisi the only representatives of the domestic league.

Moore was rock-solid in his final international match and was
brought off with 12 minutes left to a huge ovation.

The Qataris, who arrived here a fortnight before the match,
never recovered from their rocky start although they came close to
scoring a couple of times in the second half. However, the
Australians gave themselves a strong platform in their mission to
qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

The Socceroos began confidently and went ahead when Brett
Emerton's cross from the right was headed in by German-based
striker Kennedy. The 1.94-metre forward posed awkward aerial
problems with Emerton and David Carney feeding him crosses from
both wings before he came off with a foot injury in the second
half.

The home team doubled their lead seven minutes later when Luke
Wilkshire's corner was headed home by Cahill, who out-jumped
Junior Amaral for his 13th international goal.

Australia were three-up in the 33rd minute when Bresciano
sweetly volleyed home Celtic striker Scott McDonald's precision
ball. The Socceroos could have been leading by far more at
half-time with goalkeeper Saqr saving goal-bound shots by Cahill
and Kennedy twice.

It was virtually one-way traffic in the first half with the
Qataris' loose marking given Australia's midfield freedom
to move the ball, which rarely came to home keeper Mark Schwarzer.
Carney looked assured at left-back and passed with assurance, while
Wilkshire and Jason Culina bossed the midfield.

Qatar coach Jorge Fossati made two changes at half-time, hauling
off skipper Alshammari Sattam and Mahdi Saddiq to show his
dissatisfaction at the limp performance. But the Australians kept
on coming with Wilkshire having a fierce long-range volley fumbled
for a corner by Saqr and a Cahill header just wide in the opening
minutes of the second half.

Substitute Alhamad Mesaad had Qatar's best chance in the
58th minute but he side-footed past the left upright with the goal
begging, while Yahya Ali Hassan had a shot saved by Schwarzer on
the hour.